Hurt in a Parking Garage? You Don't Have to Sort Out the Next Steps Alone.

A parking garage assault can support a negligent security claim. That claim asks whether the property owner or operator used reasonable care against a crime that was foreseeable. This page explains how these claims work in New Mexico. If you need a parking garage assault lawyer in Albuquerque, El Gringo Law can talk through what happened to you.

What Is a Parking Garage Assault Claim?

A parking garage assault claim is usually a negligent security claim against the party that controls the property. It says the owner or occupant failed to use ordinary care to keep the premises safe for use by a visitor, including protection from a crime by a third person that was foreseeable.

Settings can include multi-level parking structures, underground garages and surface lots. Control matters more than the label. The owner, a management company or a contracted security provider may each play a role.

These claims can involve:

• A person assaulted or robbed in a garage
• A person hurt while trying to break up an attack
• A family whose loved one was killed in a garage

Many people assume a claim needs a known or arrested attacker. The attacker’s identity or arrest does not, by itself, decide whether a claim exists. The central question is what the property knew, what it should have known, and what it did about it.

When Can a Property Owner Be Liable?

New Mexico’s pattern jury instruction says a landowner must use ordinary care to protect a visitor from harm caused by a third party’s foreseeable conduct, including criminal conduct. UJI 13-1320 NMRA

Foreseeability is often the hardest question. Earlier thefts, assaults or break-ins in the same garage or nearby can show a risk was known. Ford v. Board of County Commissioners

Questions that often come up include:

• Was there working lighting in the parking area and stairwells?
• Were cameras working and aimed at entries and exits?
• Did gates, access control and emergency call boxes work?
• Were patrols or staff present, and were dark elevators or stairwells repaired?

A negligence claim generally needs a duty, a breach of that duty, and a breach that caused the harm. Herrera v. Quality Pontiac explains that a cause need not be the only cause. One missing measure does not decide a case alone.

Fault can also be shared. New Mexico follows pure comparative negligence. Scott v. Rizzo holds that a plaintiff’s own fault lowers recovery but does not bar it. Under NMSA § 41-3A-1, in causes of action to which several liability applies, a defendant who establishes that another’s fault was a proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injury is liable only for the ratio of its own fault to the total fault attributed to all persons, including plaintiffs, defendants and persons not party to the action, applied to the total dollar amount awarded as damages; subsection C lists the situations where joint and several liability still applies. How fault is split depends on the facts.

What Can a Claim Cover?

A claim can seek money for losses caused by the attack. The losses in each case depend on the injuries and the impact on daily life.

• Medical costs, including emergency care, hospital stays, surgery, rehabilitation, medication and future treatment
• Lost income and reduced ability to work
• Pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life
• Serious injuries such as spinal cord injuries, burn injuries, amputations and other catastrophic injuries, which may need lifetime care planning

For families, New Mexico’s wrongful death law allows an action when a death is caused by another’s wrongful act, neglect or default that would have entitled the injured person to maintain an action and recover damages had death not ensued. NMSA § 41-2-1 provides: “Whenever the death of a person shall be caused by the wrongful act, neglect or default of another, although such death shall have been caused under such circumstances as amount in law to a felony, and the act, or neglect, or default, is such as would, if death had not ensued, have entitled the party injured to maintain an action and recover damages in respect thereof, then, and in every such case, the person who, or the corporation which, would have been liable, if death had not ensued, shall be liable to an action for damages, notwithstanding the death of the person injured.”

No amount can be predicted at the first call. Value depends on the facts, the medical evidence and available insurance.

What Evidence and Deadlines Matter Most Early?

Medical care and written records matter most, and deadlines can start running early.

• Get medical care first, and keep every record, bill and prescription.
• Save any police report or case number, and note the officer’s name and agency if you have them.
• Write down what happened, where in the garage, the time, and what security you saw or did not see.
• Photograph lighting, camera locations, gates, signs and injuries, and collect witness names and phone numbers.
• Ask the owner or operator in writing to keep surveillance video and incident records, because footage can be overwritten.

Time limits for filing injury claims in New Mexico are set by statute and can differ depending on the injured person’s circumstances. Wrongful death actions must be brought within three years after the cause of action accrues, and the cause of action accrues as of the date of death (NMSA 1978, § 41-2-2 — three years from the date of death).

If a city, county or other public body owns the garage, a written notice may be due within ninety days. NMSA § 41-4-16 provides: “When a claim for which immunity has been waived under the Tort Claims Act is one for wrongful death, the required notice may be presented by, or on behalf of, the personal representative of the deceased person or any person claiming benefits of the proceeds of a wrongful death action, or the consular officer of a foreign country of which the deceased was a citizen, within six months after the date of the occurrence of the injury which resulted in the death; but if the person for whose death the claim is made has presented a notice that would have been sufficient had he lived, an action for wrongful death may be brought without any additional notice.”

How Does the Process Work, Step by Step?

Most claims move from a first call to an investigation, a claim against the responsible parties, and then negotiation or a lawsuit.

• Step 1, first contact: Call, use the contact form, or start a chat. Describe the garage, the date and your injuries in your own words.
• Step 2, first consultation: Discuss what happened and whether a negligent security claim may fit. The consultation is free and confidential, with no obligation to continue.
• Step 3, investigation: Request security records, video, incident history and police files, and review medical documentation.
• Step 4, claim: Identify the responsible parties, which may include owners, management companies and security contractors, and present the claim to them.
• Step 5, resolution: Many claims resolve through negotiation. If a fair resolution is not reached, the claim may proceed to a lawsuit.

Timelines vary with each case, depending on injuries, parties and evidence.

Why Work With El Gringo Law?

El Gringo Law represents injured people and families in negligent security, premises liability, car accident, trucking, wrongful death and catastrophic injury matters. Josh Wood is the responsible lawyer for this page. He is licensed in New Mexico and Arizona.

The firm serves clients in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe, Las Cruces, Taos and Farmington, and across Bernalillo and Sandoval Counties. Our team works with you from the first call through each step of the claim.

Your first consultation is free, confidential and comes with no obligation to continue.

Costs: the firm may advance court costs and litigation expenses, and those advances are repaid only from a recovery. If there is no recovery, you may be responsible for court costs and the expenses of litigation, as your written contingency agreement states.

Every case is different, and past results do not predict or promise a similar outcome.

Common Questions About Parking Garage Assault Claims

Most questions come down to who controls the garage and how it responded to the risk.